The Diesel Island

Diesel has started new adv campaign «Diesel Island» within the limits of strategy «Be Stupid».
If you do not manage to advance the outlooks on life in an old society, it's necessary — to keep away from those who does not accept innovative principles, and to organize the own state. Diesel continues to throw brushwood in a movement fire «Be Stupid», starting new advertising campaign «Diesel Island».

Freedom Island for Free People

Is a story of desperate young people which were tired of a boring society with all its interdiction dictated by «big brother's mind». The young people has landed on paradise islands to create the new nation to take all best principles of the device of the existing countries and forever to eliminate social injustice.

People on a photos, it «the pioneers, which profits on Diesel Island in search of rescue from tyranny, an economic crisis, political corruption and reality shows», begin new life in which there is no place for silly restrictions of the usual world.

The army of these people consists of pair-three the person, armed with soft pillows, inhabitants of this kingdom of rest project ecological means of transportation (for example, the car which copes from a strength of wind), and also gradually steal Wi-Fi from neighboring countries. Being children of a wind, the sun and freedom, they do not accept all totalitarian powers.

Today, 21 March is World Down Syndrome Day and the new project launched by Saatchi & Saatchi and CoorDown 10 days ago entitled #DammiPiùVoce (Turn up my voice), has been a huge success with 40 celebrities answering the call and donating their voice.

As of this morning 40 celebrity videos have been donated. Amongst them Sharon Stone, Jose Mourinho, and numerous Italian Stars Including Chef Carlo Cracco, Singer Jovanotti, who also created a special song for Spartaco, Actress Asia Argento and Football players Francesco Totti and Antonio Cassano.

You can follow the campaign on twitter.com/coordown and facebook.com/coordown. #DammiPiùVoce is the official hashtag on Twitter.

“This year — says Sergio Silvestre, the National Coordinator of CoorDown — we have dedicated our energy to the main goal: defending and promoting the rights of people with Down Syndrome, who are too often overcome by prejudices and the lack of application of existing laws, especially those concerning inclusion in the job market. We are not asking for more rights for our guys, just the same opportunities as everyone else. We are proud to collaborate with Saatchi & Saatchi again on this occasion after the success of the last campaign which has succeeded in communicating, with courage and brilliant ideas, the need to turn up the voice of people with Down Syndrome. This is the most important theme of the World Day of Down Syndrome 2013.”

"We are very pleased to work again with CoorDown — said Giuseppe Caiazza, CEO of Saatchi & Saatchi in Italy and Head of Automotive Business for Saatchi & Saatchi EMEA. Following the success of last year's campaign, we decided to do something unique together, and just as we did last year, we feel enriched professionally, but also personally."

Agostino Toscana, Executive Creative Director of Saatchi & Saatchi Italy, said: "After having “ecologically recycled” the TV commercials and print ads last year, making it a major integration campaign, this year we decided to get the most out of another "old trick" of making advertising: the use of a celebrity. The fact that the entire campaign is developed on a digital platform, live and fully transparent, is another piece of this project that we are carrying on together with our CoorDown friends. In 2012 the companies donated their commercials for Integration Day, in 2013 celebrities donated their voice. Both times in a way never seen before."

After the results of the “Integration Day” campaign, which won 7 Gold Lions and one Bronze Lion at the 2012 Cannes International Festival of Creativity, Saatchi & Saatchi and CoorDown Onlus worked together again to safeguard the rights of people with Down syndrome.

In Italy, due to prejudice, the basic rights of people with Down syndrome are still too often denied. Rights like proper academic support, rehabilitation treatments, the opportunity to do beneficial work or even just the possibility to have fun like their peers.

With more funds available it would be possible to defend their rights through protective measures, projects that stimulate their engagement and autonomy, and through better information activities. That’s the reason behind the launch of the #DammiPiùVoce (Turn up my voice) campaign.

On www.coordown.it, 50 people with Down syndrome asked 50 celebrities for a particular donation. Not money: they asked for a video. A video in which those celebrities ask the public to support the rights of people with Down Syndrome through a donation, thus amplifying their voices. A video that, if shared by the celebrities on their social networks, would have more chance of being listened to.

The Strategic Milk Alliance, a new joint venture created by proud dairy farmers across Canada, is pouring out a new communications campaign, titled ‘Milk Every Moment” that reconnects teens and adults to drinking milk. The evocative and heart-warming creative is an ode to childhood that highlights some of the fun yet nonsensical activities people seem to have outgrown, while revealing milk as a timeless pleasure that can be enjoyed at any age.

“Not everything we did when we were kids made sense, but one thing that did make sense was pairing milk with foods such as cookies and grilled cheese sandwiches,” says Dean Lee, executive creative director, DDB Canada. “This campaign is designed to remind people that drinking milk with their favourite foods was great during their childhood and it still tastes just as good now.”

Developed by the integrated groups of DDB Canada’s Vancouver office, the comprehensive national campaign kicks off with a 60-second cinema spot, “Fun” that portrays all the amusing and occasionally illogical activities children would do purely for enjoyment’s sake. The cinema spot depicts familiar moments from childhood when cardboard boxes became hideouts and frosted posts tempted tongues, all by way of reminding viewers of the time when ‘fun’ governed their decision-making. From the ad’s nostalgic illustration of a young girl wearing rubber gloves for shoes to young boys throwing wet paper balls to the ceiling, the ad’s evocative voice-over helps narrate each scene.

All of the young actors are filmed in scenes to portray eras of the 70s, 80s and 90s, which targets and prompts people of all ages to recall their own history of playful antics. Ending the spot is a universal yet calming reassurance: “While not everything we did when we were kids made sense, drinking milk did, and still does.”

“People, as they move into adulthood, are likely to replace milk with other beverages,” says Katherine Loughlin, Manager, Market Development with Alberta Milk. “With the goal of increasing adult and teen milk consumption across Canada, the new campaign reminds people how great milk pairs with certain foods – something they would have known as kids and may have forgotten over the years.”

Three 30-second TV spots, “Fun,” “Heart” and “Curiosity” help to underpin the message, reinforcing the idea that milk used to and can still be the perfect sidekick. Each spot ends with a call to visit www.MilkEveryMoment.ca, where people are encouraged to share content such as favourite milk pairings, recipes, photos and videos.

The website further ignites users’ passion and excitement for milk through contests and community engagement. The first social contest to launch on June 17 will invite Canadians to post and share content of themselves or their children engaging in memorable childhood moments, such as the ones portrayed in the broadcast spots. The content can be shared directly on the website or via Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and Pinterest. Through a series of public voting and editorial considerations, the six-week contest will determine four winners in total: three of them will take home a Polaroid digital camera and one grand prize winner will receive a DSLR digital camera.

Digital, social, print, outdoor, public relations, experiential and shopper marketing round out this integrated campaign by driving traffic to MilkEveryMoment.ca. Each program element creates conversation and interest surrounding milk. This campaign is the first for the Strategic Milk Alliance since forming and signing DDB Canada as its agency of record in July 2012.

Milk Every Moment was launched earlier this week and will run throughout the year with OMD Canada responsible for the media plan.

Pointe-à-Callière presents a major exclusive international exhibition, The Aztecs, People of the Sun. Visitors will have the unique privilege of learning about the people who founded the fabulous city of Tenochtitlan, capital of the Aztec Empire and the site where Mexico City was built after the Spanish Conquest in 1521. The exhibition, presented from May 30 to October 25, offers insights into the dazzling world of a people who reigned over much of Mexico for two centuries.

The exhibition, produced by Pointe-à-Callière in collaboration with the Mexican National Council for Culture and the Arts – National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH), showcases some 265 items from 16 Mexican museums, including the Templo Mayor Museum, an archaeological site museum like Pointe-à-Callière itself, and the Mexican National Museum of Anthropology. The tremendously varied objects are both spectacular and moving. Masks and statues, gold jewellery, figurines of women, children and animals, stamps for creating patterns on fabric and skin, sculptures and objects relating to the sacrifices required to keep the Sun on its daily journey, chests, boxes for offerings, vases and ceramics, all reflect the mysteries surrounding this people.

Stunning artifacts

The highlights of the Montréal exhibits include some of the most remarkable remains from the Aztec civilization. Two statues from the Templo Mayor Museum, each weighting 250 kg and standing 170 cm (nearly 6 feet) tall, are sure to appeal to visitors’ imaginations. The terra cotta statue of an eagle warrior, with jagged claws protruding from his knees front and back and his face emerging from an eagle’s beak, could also represent the rising Sun. This true work of art was found in the House of the Eagles, next to the Templo Mayor, used for rituals and penitential ceremonies. The terra cotta statue of Mictlantecuhtli shows the god of death leaning forward toward humans. With his skull-like face, pierced with holes for hair to be inserted, his shredded skin and clawed hands, stained with human blood, he is a terrifying sight!

Other items with splendid colours, like the vessel representing Tlaloc, the rain god, tell us more about the Aztecs’ lifestyle and deities. This vase is considered one of the masterpieces of Aztec art, and shows the god with his typical “goggles” and fangs, in his usual blue colour. The pyramid shapes on his headdress are references to the mountains where the Aztecs believed Tlaloc stored the water that would later fall as rain.

A wooden mask inlaid with turquoise, shell and mother-of-pearl is one of the rare Aztec “turquoise masks” to have survived. It may be a reference to the god Quetzalcoatl, whose face is emerging from the mouth of a serpent. This rare piece comes from the “Luigi Pigorini” National Museum of Prehistory and Ethnography, in Rome.

A ceramic piece with three faces, adorned with 13 circular gems, or chalchihuitl, evoking the 13 months of the sacred calendar, is also stunning. It decorated a brazier or a funerary urn, and shows the three phases of existence: in the centre, youth opening its eyes to the world, followed by an image of old age, and then the face of inescapable death, with its eyes closed, all referring to passing time. This sublime piece expresses the cyclical principle of duality, so important in Aztec thought, where life is reborn from death.

There are also images drawn from historic codices, photos of archaeological sites and remains, and different videos. Then there are some 150 unique hand-built and painted figurines made in Mexico to create a colourful, joyous scene depicting the vast Tlatelolco market held north of Tenochtitlan in days gone by.

Exhibition themes

The exhibition focuses on the founding of Tenochtitlan, capital of the Aztec Empire, their daily lives, the Templo Mayor, and of course the question of human sacrifices and the two Aztec calendars. It looks at many themes in their rich history: the Aztecs’ migration, guided by their god Huitzilopochtli, and the founding of Tenochtitlan; the remarkable urban planning and land use development in this “Venice of Mexico”; the Aztec art of war and the tribute paid by conquered peoples, as well as their agricultural techniques and the chinampas, the ingenious floating gardens that made the city self-sufficient. It also looks at the organization of Aztec society, with its different classes, a fascinating subject that addresses the role of women, education and the administration of justice. Aztec writing and the famous codices, manuscripts made up of glyphs or pictograms illustrating the spoken language, are examined in depth. Religion, an essential and omnipresent part of Aztec society, along with their various deities and rituals, are described. And lastly, the exhibition closes with a description of the Spanish conquest and the fall of the Aztec Empire, and the legacy of the Aztecs today.

Who were the Aztecs?

The story of the Aztecs began around the year 1000, when a warrior tribe, probably driven by famine, set out on a long southward migration. Despite many difficulties on their odyssey, they persevered, trusting in the god watching over them to reveal the place where they could finally found their city. And so it was that in 1325 the Aztecs, or Mexicas, founded the city of Tenochtitlan, building a temple on an island in marshy Lake Texcoco, in the central Mexican highlands. The capital was divided into four districts, watched over by the gods associated with the four cardinal directions. In a sacred precinct in the centre of the city stood the main temples, including the Templo Mayor or “Great Temple,” which would become the heart of their city and the centre of their spiritual and material universe. The Aztec Empire lasted almost 200 years, until 1521. They built lavish palaces, temples and markets there, creating an immense metropolis with a population of about 200,000 at its height. Theirs was an imperialistic society that relied on diplomacy and near-constant warfare to expand their empire and collect tribute in the form of regular “taxes” from the peoples they conquered.

A highly innovative civilization

Tenochtitlan was founded on a shallow, marshy lake. The Aztecs were able to increase the habitable area of their city by planting pilings and installing platforms to hold sediment from the lake. Thanks to this ingenious system, the city was crisscrossed by canals, and chinampas, or true floating gardens, were created where they could grow various crops. These remarkably fertile gardens produced up to seven harvests a year, feeding much of the city. The system was also used to recycle the city’s organic waste. The Aztecs developed trade in cocoa, maize and other crops, which were sold in markets of all sizes, and produced striking ceramics and magnificent gold and silver finery.

A life governed by gods and calendars

Like many other Mesoamerican peoples, the Aztecs divided their universe into three main levels: the sky, the Earth – an island with the Templo Mayor at its centre – and the underworld, inhabited by the god of the dead and his companion. The god and goddess of duality were the source of four creative principles occupying the “four roads of the universe” corresponding to the four cardinal directions. For the Aztecs it was important to constantly maintain the balance among the divine forces – a delicate exercise governed from day to day by following two calendars that dictated not only the maize planting and harvesting cycle but also the rituals required to appease some 200 different gods.

The Aztecs considered time to be cyclical, and human lives to be influenced in turn by their gods, at regular intervals, as spelled out in the two interlocking calendars. The solar or annual calendar lasted 365 days and consisted of 18 months of 20 days, adding up to 360 days. The remaining five days were seen as highly inauspicious – it was best to avoid all activity on those days! In every month a major god was honoured. Since this calendar governed agricultural activity, it included many feasts dedicated to the rain god Tlaloc and to plant deities.

The sacred calendar also dictated religious ceremonies and important dates. Each day was defined by a glyph or written sign (there were 20) and a number from 1 to 13. These signs and numbers combined in an unchanging order, and the same combination of signs and numbers repeated until the 13 x 20 possibilities were done, that is for 260 days. Every 52 years, the solar and sacred calendars aligned once again. For the Aztecs, this was a time of fear and anguish, since they didn’t know whether it signalled the end of the world.

The importance of the Sun and human sacrifice

The Aztecs worshipped the Sun, and feared that it would disappear if they didn’t perform various rituals. Just like many other pre-Columbian civilizations, they also engaged in human sacrifice. These sacrifices were considered offerings and an essential part of the various rituals associated with their religion and daily life. Victims were put to death to nourish the Sun and the Earth. When the rains failed to appear and crops were at risk, for instance, the Aztecs would sacrifice children to regain the favour of the rain god. Different kinds of victims were sacrificed: warriors captured in battle, slaves, people condemned to death for offences, and children.

Highly significant codices

The Aztecs had a special form of writing. They transcribed their language, Nahuatl, using a combination of glyphs, figures and graphic elements. These manuscripts, known as codices, are an inexhaustible source of details about their economy, and include tax rolls, property registers, politics, history, education, religion, sacred rituals and science. They are key to our understanding of Aztec civilization.

The Aztec heritage

When he first saw Tenochtitlan and its many canals, Hernán Cortés of Spain compared it with Venice. But despite his admiration for the city, he had no scruples about laying it to waste in 1521. Cortés left Cuba with about 500 men, on a mission to secure the interior of Mexico. After being greeted with splendid gifts by Moctezuma II, Cortés soon took the Aztec Emperor prisoner. The destruction of Tenochtitlan marked the end of the Aztec Empire and launched the colonization of all of Latin America.

Today the Aztec civilization is considered one of the most remarkable in human history. Many archaeological digs and different museums celebrate their exceptional contribution to world heritage. Mexico City, the country’s capital and largest metropolis, was built atop the ruins of the superb city of Tenochtitlan. Today it is home to some 22 million people. The Aztec language, Nahuatl, is still spoken by about 1.6 million Nahuas. Today’s Mexicans also carry the memory of the Aztecs in their name. When their god Huitzilopochtli guided the Aztecs to the site where they would found Tenochtitlan, he called his people Mexicas. Even today, a divine eagle perched on a cactus devouring a serpent – the sign that the god had sent to the high priest of the Aztecs to tell them where to found their city – adorns the Mexican flag and banknotes. And one can still travel by boat along the canals built by the Aztecs, in Xochimilco and other districts of Mexico City.

Source: Pointe-à-Callière [May 29, 2015]

An emotional and uplifting new TV ad for Toronto's Hospital For Children's (Sick Kids) fall brand campaign. The commercial is wrapped around their signature line "Together We Will," and helps to capture the strength, compassion and determination that make SickKids the incredible place that it is.
This spot feature real SickKids patients, families and staff singing along to Roy Orbison's "You Got It" and highlights unconditional love among families and the lengths to which they go, together with SickKids staff, to help make sick children better.

Learn more about the campaign please visit www.sickkidsfoundation.com/together. Full Press Release below.

SickKids campaign rallies community to come together to support children’s health “Together We Will” emphasizes strength in unity Picture this: A four year old leukemia patient braving the MRI table for his next scan. A newborn in an isolet hooked up to oxygen. A child being rushed to the emergency department by ambulance. A dad cradling his baby in a rocking chair in the baby’s hospital room. A teenage cancer patient in her bedroom putting on her wig. A mom and her son doing crafts in a hospital playroom in between his treatments.

These are just some of the scenes portrayed in a new marketing campaign for The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) set to launch November 12 for six weeks through to December 31, leading up to the busiest giving season of the year. The campaign is centred on the tagline “Together We Will” and emphasizes the strength of a community coming together to help improve children’s health. SickKids staff, patients and families featured in the ads help capture the strength, compassion and determination that makes the hospital an incredible place to the thousands of families who rely on it each year.

The creative concept is brought to life with a focus on the breadth of people it takes to help a sick child, both at home and at SickKids. Set to the emotional lyrics of Roy Orbison’s You Got It, the television spots feature children, youth and their parents together with SickKids staff in real hospital settings singing along to “…anything you want… you got it… baby.” The spot closes with the caption: We’ll do anything for them. But we can’t do it alone. Together We Will.

Twelve patient ambassadors aged 17 months to 17 years old from throughout Ontario, with conditions ranging from brittle bone disease to organ transplants and various childhood cancers, are featured in the campaign. Although many of them are in active treatment, these young patients muster all of their energy to sing along and lend their help to inspire people to support the hospital through donations.

“These scenes capture some of the most poignant moments between a child and their parents or their medical team, reflecting the family-centred care approach at SickKids,” says Ted Garrard, President and CEO, SickKids Foundation. “This campaign truly illustrates the lengths to which staff and families will go, together, to help improve and save children’s lives. Families know they can count on the multidisciplinary medical teams at the hospital when their children need them. This holiday season we need the community’s support to help SickKids continue to be there for anything our patients need, now and in the future.”

In keeping with the spirit of a community joining forces to help children who need life-saving medical care, a mural featuring leukemia patient Hunter Kemp, 5, and a sampling of 19 representatives from his SickKids circle of care will be installed at Dundas subway station. In the mural, Hunter is joined by his family and his extended SickKids family who have been there for him throughout his cancer treatment, including everyone from his nurse and oncologist to his Child Life Specialist and psychologist. Hospital President and CEO Mary Jo Haddad is also featured. The mural symbolizes the group of people who come together when a child is seriously ill and bears the caption: Together We Will. No Matter How Many of us it Takes. The mural is the focal point of a subway station domination which also includes branded wrapped pillars, stairs and turnstiles.

The ‘Together We Will’ theme is also integrated with the print campaign which features patients photographed with either a parent or someone from their SickKids medical team with aspirational claims of what can be achieved together with community support. Together We Will Make a Hospital Feel Nothing Like a Hospital and Together We Will Search for Answers are examples of how the print campaign aims to inspire people to help SickKids achieve its vision to advance children’s health in Toronto and around the world.

Elements of the campaign include mass marketing with television, print and out-of-home advertising including a branded domination at Dundas subway station and at 10 Dundas St. E., elevator wraps in 35 buildings and presence on 110 elevator screens throughout buildings in downtown Toronto. A: 60 second television spot is the focus of the campaign, with supporting 15-second spots, print ads and digital banner ads. The 60-second spot will run before every movie in six Cineplex theatres in the Greater Toronto Area.

There is also a digital component called SickKids Free Movie Day. People can help fill a virtual theatre online at www.sickkidsfoundation.com/together to send SickKids kids on an exclusive movie experience this holiday season. Cineplex will provide a complimentary movie screening for young patients who are healthy enough to attend the theatre in the new year.

The campaign website will go live on November 9 at www.sickkidsfoundation.com/together and will feature the 60-second television commercial and patient stories. People who wish to support SickKids can donate by visiting the Together We Will campaign website.

The Together We Will concept, creative and digital development was handled by JWT and media planning and buying was handled by Maxus. Partners Film produced the television spots, directed by Kathi Prosser, and photography for the print campaign was done by award winning photographer and filmmaker Mark Zibert.

Credits:
Client: Sick Kids Foundation
Agency: JWT, Toronto
VP/Managing Director: Neil MacLellan
Copywriter: Jed Churcher
Art Director: Andy Brokenshire
Agency Producer: Raquel Rose
Account Director: Michelle Ching
Production Company: Partners Film
Director: Kathi Prosser
Executive Producer: Aerin Barnes
Line Producer: Amalie Bruun
Director of Photography: Tico Poulakakis
Editing Company: Panic and Bob
Editor: David Baxter
Music: Eggplant
Producer & Music Director: Adam Damelin
Producer: Nicola Treadgold

IKEA begins an ambitious sustainability strategy, People & Planet Positive, the strategy is an integrated part of the IKEA Group long-term growth direction and builds on the company’s long history of working with sustainability by outlining a new set of goals and actions for delivery up to 2020.

New strategy will see IKEA Group become energy independent and help millions of people live an affordable, sustainable life at home.

A $1.95 billion investment in solar and wind projects, the retailer plans to gather 70% of its energy demands from renewable energy sources by 2015, leveraging wind farms in six European countries that generated 152 gigawatt hours of electricity last year, about 12% of the total needed for its stores and distribution centers.

“We want to create a better every day for the many people. A better life includes living more sustainably. We have been working towards that goal for many years and have already done a lot, and we are now ready to take the next big step. People & Planet Positive will help us to do that; transforming our business and having an even greater positive impact on the world,” said Mikael Ohlsson, President and CEO, IKEA Group.

In Belgium, about 5.000 disabled people are on a waiting list for a disabled-friendly house. To make the public aware of that acute housing shortage, 6 disabled people decided to squat an old mansion in Brussels. Their motto? You can’t live on a waiting list. Inclusie Invest, a non-profit cooperative society, organizes such housing projects. To make people aware of Inclusie Invest and the housing shortage, 6 disabled squatters also recorded their own version of Madness’ well-known hit Our House. The breath-taking video clip, performed by 1 blind, 3 people with Down syndrome and 2 wheelchair patients, was directed by Guy Goossens. The street of the squatted house was also recreated online on kraakmee.be . People who like the campaign can squat along virtually, letting the house grow and grow.

A big thanks to:
Joyce, Leen, Dimitri, Peter, Gert, Sammy, (the actors), Guy Goossens (director), Theater Stap, Thomas Buelens, A-sound, Spots, Lucky Cameras, Base Camp Jules Logistics, Chiro Koekelberg, Jan Torsin (the pigeons), Hussein en Nathalie (the interns), Tiny, Gloriant, Michaël en Ruben, Sander Jansens (for the fire)

Our House used courtesy of Union Square Music Ltd under exclusive licence from Stirling Holdings Ltd.
Publishing Music Rights: Emi Music Publishing Services Belgium NV.

Credits:
Advertised brand: Inclusie Invest
Advert title: You can't live on a waiting list
Category: Non-profit
Advertising Agency: TBWA, Brussels, Belgium
Agency website: http://www.tbwa.be
Creative Director: Jan Macken, Gert Pauwels
Creative team: Bout Holtof, Geert Feytons
Account team: Katrien Crabbe, Mieke Michels, Geert Potargent
Strategy: Vicky Willems

The Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation (CBCF) and DARE are launching an emotive new national campaign across TV, print, radio and online, to drive participation in the annual Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation CIBC Run for the Cure being held this year on Sunday, October 6.

The new campaign was born through a strategic planning process, built on a compelling goal: with the support of the community, the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation will realize its vision of creating a future without breast cancer.

While CBCF’s vision is a clear one, previous Run marketing campaigns had taken a retrospective view, in memory of those who have struggled with the disease. DARE saw the need to re-focus on the central mission, making clear that the CIBC Run for the Cure is a step towards change for the future of women across Canada. The resulting campaign was thus developed around the strategic territory of “Running for the Future” – a future without breast cancer.

The creative, developed by DARE`s Executive Creative Director Paul Little, brought this strategic insight to life using the simple yet powerful concept of children telling us who they are running for in the future. Whether a daughter, wife or granddaughter who might be diagnosed with breast cancer, the campaign highlights that it is a future that they shouldn’t have to face, if we continue to raise funds and work toward finding a cure for breast cancer.

The TV executions, shot by Philistine, which is currently directors Tim Godsall and Steven Diller from OPC //FS, each focus on one story told by a child of the future person they are running for, while the print, shot by Melodie McDaniel from Brydges Mackinney, shows the simple line of who the children are running for in the future.

Chris Burke, Senior Manager, Event Marketing at CBCF, explains, “All charities, particularly health and cancer charities, are facing the challenge of a more crowded, sophisticated and competitive marketing environment. For CBCF, that’s comes against the backdrop of some great achievements in recent years. In 2012, it was estimated that 88 percent of women diagnosed with breast cancer will be alive five years after diagnosis, a 10 percent increase in the survival rate since 1987. This campaign reframes the discussion; making the cause relevant to everyone again and making people realize that this is still very much a cause that they should do something about, for women now and in the future.”

"We wanted to switch things up this year” adds DARE ECD Paul Little. "We wanted a different kind of logic that would make people really think about why they should participate in this event. The unfortunate reality is that breast cancer is harsh, but reminding us of that in a heavy handed ad isn't new. We wanted to surprise people and help them feel motivated by this initiative again.”
The national campaign consists of four 30 second TV commercials (3 in English and 1 in French), five print pieces, 2 radio spots and online banners. It also features strong social media elements, to extend the relationship with participants well before and beyond Run day. This includes a Facebook App that helps people submit their reasons for participating, creating shareable content to encourage people to support their friends who are getting involved.

The campaign will be in market from June 3rd 2013 through to run day on Sunday, October 6, 2013. For more information or to sign up to participate, please visit www.runforthecure.com.

Credits:
Agency: DARE
Executive Creative Director: Paul Little
Copywriter: Paul Constantakis, Paul Little
Art Director: Paul Little
Agency Producer: Mike Hasinoff, Matthew Sy, Jeff Maynard
Account Lead: Penny Norman, Jillian Pearson
Planner: John Hall
Media Agency: Vizeum
Media Lead: Lynn Mayer
Director: Philistine (currently Tim Godsall and Steven Diller)
Production Company: OPC //FS
Executive Producer: Harland Weiss, Donovan Boden
Producer: Isil Gilderdale
Director of Photography: Andre Pienaar
Editorial: School
Editor: Brian Wells
Telecine: Company3
Colorist: Tom Poole
Online & Finishing: Fort York
Sound Design & Mix: Grayson Matthews
Photographer: Melodie McDaniel at Brydges Mackinney

Challenge
Smart by Mercedes is a perfect car for a big city with huge parking problems. In Moscow, it takes an average of 19 minutes a day for a driver to find a parking place. Yet people still try to squeeze their mid-to-large cars into limited places. Our objective was to show reluctant consumers that the Smart is an best car for parking in the big city.

The task was to drive the audience’s interest in Smart by demonstrating its amazing parking abilities. The results were to be measured by hotline calls and test drive applications.

Solution
We involved a city-wide chain of corporate self-service cafeterias called Cafetera. There are 18 Cafeteras in Moscow’s biggest business centers (total daily audience 10 000 people), a bulls-eye hit into the target audience: upper middle class white collars. The lines in Cafeteras during lunch hours are as terrible as the parking situation around them.

Idea
We noticed that just a simple 900 turn of a tray will increase the number of trays on the counter by 50%. And this is exactly how it feels to park a Smart. A simple sticker on a tray turned it into the simplest test drive ever — the effect of Smart parking is visible immediately, on the counter.

Results
Total people reached by the message: approx. 9000
Hotline calls increase vs. planned: 186%
Smart Test Drive online applications coming from Smart Twist vs. classic media ads: 26:1 ratio
Total people applying for a test drive: 85 — 250% increase vs. the monthly average
Conversion rate 70% — people applying for a Test Drive vs QR code readings
Cafetera lines efficiency increase during the promo: 38%

Credits:
Ad Agency: BBDO Moscow
Chief Creative Officer: Igor Lutz
Creative Director: Mihai Coliban
Copywriter: Victor Lander, Evgeniy Gavrilchenko
Art Director: Konstantin Tokarev
Producer: Valery Gorohov, Anna Chernaya, Denis Shushin
Account Supervisor: Christina Tancher, Anna Sokolova,
Advertiser's Supervisor: Ekaterina Geraseva
Account Manager: Yana Bader
Producer P.P.C.M Enterprise: Daria Yastrubitskaya
Director P.P.C.M Enterprise: Avdotia Alexandrova
Graphics&Animation P.P.C.M Enterprise: Timofey Alexandrov

Original story via Jeff Green, Toronto Star reporter.

Toronto’s terrible commuters, you’ve been warned: move your bags or get ready for some public shaming.
A lifelong TTC rider has turned to social media, taking aim at seat hogs on the TTC. He’s created a new blog, posting photos of riders who steal an extra seat for their lunch bags, purses, backpacks and even dogs.
“I hope your bag is comfortable, a--hole” is a Tumblr blog self-described as “a passive-aggressive reminder that people are the worst.”
“All I’m doing is saying what you’re saying in your head, out loud,” said the blog’s creator, Michael Takasaki, 42, with a laugh.
He admits the language he uses to criticize people’s subway etiquette can be a bit foul, but says he’s just saying what everyone is thinking.

“Why not just call it what it is?” he asks.

Created in March, the blog has more than 40 photos of riders with everything from their lunches to purses, grocery bags, a hockey helmet, a mop bucket and a dog taking up an extra seat on buses, streetcars or the subway.
Photos aren’t just taken by Takasaki himself; he’s also receiving and publishing online submissions from other, similarly disgruntled riders. Takasaki, who works as a senior copywriter, said there’s been a bit of backlash to the public shaming, but for the most part the response has been positive — even from TTC’s head office.
“Public transit requires public contributions that go beyond fares/taxes. Thank you for your contribution,” tweeted TTC spokesman Brad Ross.
“The public does have a say, and they’re not shy in letting us know,” Ross said Thursday.
Takasaki said he’s not the confrontational type, and that he’s doesn’t want to lecture people on how to ride the rocket, though he tries to be a good example.
“I could be the only person on the subway and my bag is on my lap,” Takasaki said. “This isn’t an anti-bag-on-seat thing for me, it’s an anti-a--hole thing.”
Takasaki said he’ll keep the blog going until he’s bored of it. While he’s aware people have called him a whiner and advised him to pull up his “big boy pants,” he doesn’t seem to mind.
“Don’t take it too seriously,” said Takasagi. “I certainly don’t.”

The TTC Rider shame site — http://ihopeyourbagiscomfortableasshole.tumblr.com/
Michael is a Sr. Copywriter at Union, see some of the great work he has done for clients like Nabob, Audi and Pro-Line here at www.mikeandglen.com

For the first time in its 20-year history, G Adventures will communicate and engage with people around the world through one unified question: “What will you do today for tomorrow?”

This is the first video of the series. Shot from the perspective of a G Adventures traveler, these films express a shared hope for a better world. They tap into the power of an international and interconnected G Adventures community to spark change and create positive action unrestricted by geographic barriers. Grouped thematically around four ideas — freedom, beauty, knowledge and community — the films serve to associate these compelling and creative ideas with the G Adventures brand. These films demonstrate, through inspiring scenes of G Adventures travelers captured around the world, from Morocco to Brazil—how people are seizing the day, and in so doing, are creating positive change. They hope to inspire people to join with G Adventures and serve as a rallying cry to create positive change in the world today. As people from different backgrounds work for positive change and progress and take advantage of opportunities, G Adventures will be there to serve as the company that brings them together, challenging them to leave the world better than we found it. By harnessing the power of its global group of travelers, the G Adventures brand hopes to raise awareness and support for a diverse range of thought leaders around the globe who embody the ideals of the G Adventures brand. The G-Project is powered by G Adventures.

Credits:
Advertised brand: G Adventures
Advert title(s): What will you do today, for tomorrow?
Advertising Agency: G Adventures Brand Team (in-house)
Creative Director: Jaymie Bachiu
Art Director: Leonardo Tamburri
Copywriters: Steve English & Daniel Sendecki
Videographers: Kyle Jordan & Joe DiBenedetto

Virgin Atlantic launches a great new ad campaign, "Fly In The Face of Ordinary" that celebrates the extraordinary talents of the airlines employees. The multimillion dollar advert highlights the amazing skills of the airline's staff of crew, designers, pilots and everyday pioneers.

The campaign launches as the airline expands it's domestic flying program in the United Kingdom with service between London Heathrow and Manchester, Aberdeen and Edinburgh. Virgin Atlantic is also looking for 150 new staff for the launch and the epic two minute commercial gives us an insight into the kind of people that make Virgin Atlantic "fly in the face of ordinary" and provide prospective passengers a welcome splash of red in a weary world of grey.

"Our advertisement is a powerful New Year message encouraging everyone to look again at young people and the talents they have to offer to businesses and industries all over the country. People are at the heart of Virgin Atlantic and this campaign celebrates them," said Sir Richard Branson, President of Virgin Atlantic and went on to say: "We're always on the lookout for gifted people to grow our business. Our staff hold the keys to the future of Virgin Atlantic; they work so hard, and we are delighted to dedicate this new advert to them."

Credits:
Creative Advertising Agency: RKCR/Y&R, UK
Executive Creative Director: Mark Roalfe
Creative Partners: Pip Bishop, Chris Hodgkiss
Business Director: Vicky Jacobs
Producer: Jody Allison
Production Assistant: Flo Clive
Music Producer: Dan Neale
Production Company: Partizan
Director: Antoine Bardou / Jacquet
Producer: David Stewart
DOP: Andre Chemetoff, Damian Morisot
Production Designer: Nick Ellis
Editing House: Work Post
Editor: Bill Smedley
Post production: MPC
Post Production Producer: Julie Evans
Sound Studio: Wave Studios
Sound Engineer: Aaron Reynolds
Composer: Guy Farley

Steve Hall over at Adrants brought this beauty of a commercial to light...

This is like tobacco companies spending all kinds of money telling people smoking is bad for them and then at the same time doing everything they can to get people to buy as many packs of cigarettes as possible. While like the message in the Thailand-based dtac commercial which shows what life would be like if all you had was your phone, we question the duplicity of it all.

Yea, people are way to obsessed with their phones these day, present company included but does a phone company really want people to use their phones less?

via: Adrants

Trocathlon is an event organised by Decathlon. At Trocathlon, people can sell their old sports equipment in order to buy brand new sports gear at Decathlon. The star of this ad is so excited about the whole deal he looks to be having some kind of orgasmic experience, this is the second spot created by the new creative agency &Rosàs appropriately entitled "oh my love".

Press plug for the crew at &Rosàs...
The objective was to get the largest number of people possible wanting to renew their equipment. So the idea was to awaken in them the need to use something new, always within a sporting context.
Using brand new gear renews your desire to practice sport.
The greatest sport in the world is the first campaign by for Decathlon.
&Rosàs is the name of the new agency following the departure of Oriol Villar. An agency that maintains the same work team, the same space, the same principles, the same enthusiasm and, above all, the same trust of its long-time clients: Pepsico, Honda, Casa Tarradellas, Dewar’s, Angulas Aguinaga, Damm... as well as our new client: Decathlon.
The raison d’ètre of Decathlon is to make sport easier and more accessible for everyone, and therein is born the inspiration for the new campaign: The greatest sport in the world, a close-up and optimistic approach, where anyone can feel identified and, above all, proud of doing sport in their own way, without the pressure of having to be the best and excel themselves every day.
Because it is not just a case of perseverance, exertion or sacrifice... sport means being happy doing what you like best. And, at a time when increasing number of people are taking part in sport, Decathlon wants to continue to make it easy for anyone to enjoy it, by offering tailor-made material of excellent quality that is accessible for everyone.
The greatest sport in the world aims to stand hand in hand with all sportspeople (some 87% of Spaniards practice some kind of sporting activity). And also with the people who do sport beyond the victories, to disconnect from work and their worries, and who change the rules in order to continue enjoying it in their own way. Because the good thing about sport starts instantly, with the rush of air into your face as you pedal, as you immerse yourself in freezing water without noticing the cold, or as you laugh at your first fall when windsurfing.

Credits:
Creative Ad Agency: &Rosàs, Barcelona Spain
Advertiser/Client: Decathlon
Project: Trocathlon
Title: Oh my love
Creative Director: Tuning
Art director: Dani Zomeño and Clara Quintana
Copywriting: Tuning
Account Direction: Juan Badilla and Edu Rojo
Agency Producer: Iria Martínez
Production: Garage Films
Director: Augusto de Fraga
Producer: Xavi Doncel
DOP: Oscar Faura
Video Postproduction: Fake
Audio Postproduction: BSO
Music: Trafalgar 13

Brand activation agency Arc London has created a campaign that sees London's graffiti get a spellcheck, in aid of tuition service The Tutor Crowd.

Spelling and grammatical mistakes in graffiti around London have inspired a new tongue-in-cheek campaign by Arc, a division of the Leo Burnett Group, for the online English tuition service The Tutor Crowd.

The campaign shows the offending graffiti on walls, toilet doors and public areas around London corrected with paint pens and stickers.The stickers direct children and their parents to The Tutor Crowd’s online service for a free English tuition trial.

As well as highlighting the need for English tuition, the work aims to debunk the myth that it’s stuffy, old-fashioned and expensive, repositioning it as online and available from expert tutors anytime and anywhere.

The campaign, called “Take The Classroom To The Streets”, is running outdoor across London, in areas including Shoreditch, Old Street, Brick Lane, South Bank and Camden and will appear online at thetutorcrowd.tumblr.com
The work, which breaks online this week, and was written and art directed by Dan Kennard and Ben Smith.

Patrick Wilson, founder of The Tutor Crowd, said: “Good spelling and grammar is fundamentally important to young people. But teaching it doesn’t have to be old fashioned and stuffy. We wanted to engage parents and young people alike, and make them realise that online tuition is an option that’s available to try.”

Beri Cheetham, Executive Creative Director at Arc said: “To change the traditional perception of English tuition, we needed a non-traditional approach. It’s tongue-in-cheek, free and makes people smile. But most importantly, we hope it helps young people engage in grammar and spelling and get support they need.”

Appshaker recently launched a unique way for people to interact with the amazing world of National Geographic's content from around the globe.

Using the principles of augmented reality, people could immerse themselves in different scenes such as dolphins, leopards, the space landings, dinosaurs and more.

1000s of people interacted with the National Geographic brand in the process as it toured Hungary, with 1000s more people sharing snapshots and video on Facebook as a result.
Credits:
Client: National Geographic / UPC
Agency: appshaker.co.uk
Creative Directors: Alex Poulson / Kevin Jackson
Art Director: Barnabas Nanay
3D / Effects: Vertigo Digital
Production Directors: Adam Trost / Szabolcs Turányi-Vadnay

Ad agency Saatchi & Saatchi reinvents the iconic Kool-Aid man and "Oh Yeah" he's still busting through walls.

Kool-Aid is unveiling a new look for its big red mascot Monday, as the powdered drink brand looks to refresh its image and tout a new liquid mix.
The Kool-Aid Man, known for busting through walls and his "Oh yeah!" tagline, will now be computer-generated and take on the personality of a celebrity trying to show he's just a normal guy. In past ads, the character was played by an actor in foam costume and had little to say or do besides crashing through a wall with a big, smiley face.
The campaign comes as Kool-Aid plays up its liquid mix, which debuted in January. The new mix reflects a push by Kraft Foods to adjust to changing tastes and replicate the success of its liquid flavour enhancer called MiO.
MiO, which people squirt into water for flavour, has already spawned copycats including Coca-Cola Co.'s Dasani Drops. Executives say people like them because the small bottles are easier to carry around than powder mixes and let people add as much or as little flavour as they like.
The growing popularity of liquid mixes hasn't been good for Kool-Aid. In 2012, the brand's U.S. sales were down 5 per cent to $338 million, according to the market researcher Euromonitor International. That was following a 4 per cent drop the previous year.
The liquid mix is a return to Kool-Aid's roots. It began as a syrup called "Fruit Smack" in 1920. The product wasn't modified into a concentrated powder until 1927, when it was renamed "Kool-Ade." The current spelling followed in the early 1930s.
The Kool-Aid Man, meanwhile, made his first appearance in 1954 and has taken on various looks through the years. Kraft says his last big makeover was in 2000.
'He didn't really have a developed personality'Erica Rendall, senior brand manager at Kraft Foods Group Inc., says the new ads are intended to fill in the blanks in Kool-Aid Man's character so people can relate to him.
"He said a few things here and there [in the past], but he really didn't have a developed personality," she said.
In one of the new commercials, the scene opens with the character's round silhouette behind a shower curtain. When he steps out, he's a clear pitcher of water and he explains in a voiceover that his life isn't all "cherry and sweetness."
"I put my pants on one leg at a time," the voiceover notes, as he stands in front of a pantry full of Kool-Aid mixes deciding what to wear. "Except my pants are 22 different flavours. I've got grape pants, I've got watermelon pants."
But Kraft isn't abandoning trademarks of its past campaigns in the new ads, which were developed by the ad agency Saatchi & Saatchi. At the end of the commercial, the Kool-Aid Man heads out to work by calming busting through the front door. When he emerges, he waves cheerily to two awestruck kids riding their bikes past his front lawn. via: CBCnews — AP

The British Museum will open a major exhibition presenting a history of Indigenous Australia, supported by BP. This exhibition will be the first in the UK devoted to the history and culture of Indigenous Australians: both Aboriginal peoples and Torres Strait Islanders. Drawing on objects from the British Museum’s collection, accompanied by important loans from British and Australian collections, the show will present Indigenous Australia as a living culture, with a continuous history dating back over 60,000 years.

The objects displayed in this exhibition are immensely important. The British Museum’s collection contains some of the earliest objects collected from Aboriginal people and Torres Strait Islanders through early naval voyages, colonists, and missionaries dating as far back as 1770. Many were collected at a time before museums were established in Australia and they represent tangible evidence of some of the earliest moments of contact between Aboriginal people, Torres Strait Islanders and the British. Many of these encounters occurred in or near places that are now major Australian cities such as Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, and Perth. As a result of collecting made in the early 1800s, many objects originate from coastal locations rather than the arid inland areas that are often associated with Indigenous Australia in the popular imagination.

The exhibition will not only present Indigenous ways of understanding the land and sea but also the significant challenges faced by Indigenous Australians from the colonial period until to the present day. In 1770 Captain Cook landed on the east coast of Australia, a continent larger than Europe. In this land there were hundreds of different Aboriginal groups, each inhabiting a particular area, and each having its own languages, laws and traditions. This land became a part of the British Empire and remained so until the various colonies joined together in 1901 to become the nation of Australia we know today. In this respect, the social history of 19th century Australia and the place of Indigenous people within this is very much a British story. This history continues into the twenty first century. With changing policies towards Indigenous Australians and their struggle for recognition of civil rights, this exhibition shows why issues about Indigenous Australians are still often so highly debated in Australia today.

The exhibition brings together loans of special works from institutions in the United Kingdom, including the British Library, the Pitt Rivers Museum and the Cambridge Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. A number of works from the collection of the National Museum of Australia will be shown, including the masterpiece ‘Yumari’ by Uta Uta Tjangala. Tjangala was one of the artists who initiated the translation of traditions of sand sculptures and body painting onto canvas in 1971 at Papunya, a government settlement 240km northwest of Alice Springs in the Northern Territory. Tjangala was also an inspirational leader who developed a plan for the Pintupi community to return to their homelands after decades of living at Papunya. A design from ‘Yumari’ forms a watermark on current Australian passports.

This exhibition has been developed in consultation with many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander individuals, Indigenous art and cultural centres across Australia, and has been organised with the National Museum of Australia. The broader project is a collaboration with the National Museum of Australia. It draws on a joint research project, funded by the Australian Research Council, undertaken by the British Museum, the National Museum of Australia and the Australian National University. Titled ‘Engaging Objects: Indigenous communities, museum collections and the representation of Indigenous histories’, the research project began in 2011 and involved staff from the National Museum of Australia and the British Museum visiting communities to discuss objects from the British Museum’s collections. The research undertaken revealed information about the circumstances of collecting and significance of the objects, many of which previously lacked good documentation. The project also brought contemporary Indigenous artists to London to view and respond to the Australian collections at the British Museum.

Neil MacGregor, Director of the British Museum said, “The history of Australia and its people is an incredible, continuous story that spans over 60,000 years. This story is also an important part of more recent British history and so it is of great significance that audiences in London will see these unique and powerful objects exploring this narrative. Temporary exhibitions of this nature are only possible thanks to external support so I am hugely grateful to BP for their longstanding and on-going commitment to the British Museum. I would also like to express my gratitude to our logistics partner IAG Cargo and the Australian High Commission who are supporting the exhibition’s public programme.”

Source: The British Museum [April 23, 2015]

High in the Italian Alps, thousands of stick-like images of people and animals, carved into rock surfaces, offer a tantalising window into the past. Archaeologists believe that the earliest of these 150,000 images date from the Neolithic but that most originate from the Iron Age. The UNESCO-protected ‘Pitoti’ (little puppets) of the Valcamonica valley extend over an area of some three square kilometres and have been described as one of the world’s largest pieces of anonymous art.

An event taking place next Monday (18 January 2016) at Downing College, Cambridge, will give the public an opportunity to learn more about a fascinating project to explore and re-animate the Pitoti of Valcamonica. Displays and hands-on activities staged by seven of the institutions involved in the EU/European Research Council-funded ‘3D Pitoti’ digital heritage project will show visitors how archaeologists and film-makers have used the latest digital technology to explore an art form often portrayed as simplistic or primitive.

The exhibitors from Austria, Italy, Germany and the UK will show that the thousands of Pitoti can be seen as “one big picture” as dozens of artists, over a period of some 4,000 years, added narratives to the giant ‘canvases’ formed by sandstone rocks scraped clean by the movement of glaciers across the landscape. The images are etched into the rock surfaces so that, as the sun rises and then falls in the sky, the figures can be seen to gain a sense of movement.

Displays will introduce visitors to the scanning, machine learning and interactive 3D-visualisation technologies used by Bauhaus Weimar, Technical University Graz, and St Pölten University of Applied Sciences to record, analyse and breathe life into the Pitoti. Cambridge archaeologists Craig Alexander, Giovanna Bellandi and Christopher Chippindale have worked with Alberto Marretta and Markus Seidl to create Pitoti databases using Arctron’s Aspect 3D system.

The scanned images of the Pitoti are stored in the rock-art research institute in Valcamonica, Centro Camuno di Studi Preistorici, and have given the project’s team an unprecedentedly rich resource to play with in exploring the power of graphic art in combination with other media.

The 3D Pitoti team members attending next week’s event will engage with visitors who will be given the chance to experience the scanner, UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle), computer sectioning, and the Pitoti ‘oculus rift’ virtual reality experience, made possible by using advanced imaging systems which are creating a new generation of ‘real’ images. The live demonstration of the interactive 3D Pitoti children’s app, developed by Archeocammuni and Nottingham University, is likely to prove popular with younger visitors who will have the chance to handle the technology and ask questions. Also taking part in the event will be the renowned craftsperson Lida Cardozo Kindersley who will demonstrate the art of letter cutting as an intensely physical process.

“Many of the images at Valcamonica are contemporary with classical Greek art but are an under appreciated form of art. I believe that the Pitoti are an example of minimalism, an early precursor to work by Alberto Giacometti and Pablo Picasso. They can be just as powerful as the classical art of Athens and Rome in their own way. By showcasing our project in the neo-classical setting of Downing College, we are highlighting this clash of visual cultures and using the digital to raise the appreciation of what has been seen as ‘barbarian’ or ‘tribal’ art.”

Members of the 3D Pitoti team captured thousands of images of people, sheep, deer, horses and dogs found on the Valamonica rocks. The digitised images gave the project a ‘casting directory’ of thousands of ‘characters’ in order to create imagined narratives. The creation of moving images using pixels, or dots, echoes the making of the Pitoti which were pecked out of the rock by people striking the surface with repeated blows to produce lines and shapes.

Dr Sue Cobb, from the University of Nottingham, who led the international team of scientists, said: “Thanks to the 3D Pitoti project, archaeological sites and artefacts can be rendered in stunningly realistic computer-generated models and even 3D printed for posterity. Our tools will give more people online access to culturally-important heritage sites and negate the need to travel to the locations, which can be inaccessible or vulnerable to damage.

“We overcame a number of technical challenges to innovate the technology, including developing weatherproof, portable laser scanner to take detailed images of the Pitoti in situ in harsh, rugged terrain; using both a UAV and glider to take aerial shots of the valley for the computer model and processing huge masses of data to recreate an immersive, film-quality version of the site in 3D.

Next Monday’s event will include a test screening of a 15-minute 3D generated film called ‘Pitoti Prometheus’ which reimagines the story of Prometheus (who, according to legend, created men from clay) by animating digital images captured in Valcamonica. The fully finished film will be launched later in the year.

The film’s 3D engineer Marcel Karnapke and film-maker Fred Baker (contributing via Skype) will take part in a discussion at the end of the day, enabling the audience to ask questions about the film and the unfolding of an ambitious project which breaks new boundaries in terms of European cross-disciplinary collaboration.

“We use the word ‘pipeline’ to describe the process by which we’ve scanned and channelled the rock art images through time and space to bring them to mass audiences,” says Baker. “It’s a pipeline which stretches well beyond what we’ve produced and future technologies will undoubtedly open up new understandings of art forms that communicate so much about humanity and our relationships with each other, with the environment, and with imagined worlds.”

Next Tuesday morning (19 January 2016), a series of talks and workshops, aimed primarily at academics, will take place at the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research. The two days of events are the official culmination of the 3D Pitoti project. For details of Monday’s event, which is free of charge, go to http://3d-pitoti.eu/

Source: University of Cambridge [January 14, 2016]

The new “Vikings” exhibition at Discovery Times Square is, in a sense, built around something that isn’t there.

The exhibition, which opens on Friday, was organized by the Swedish History Museum in conjunction with MuseumPartners in Austria, and the people behind it really want you to know that during the 350 years (750 to 1100) that Viking culture flourished, horned helmets were never a thing. They have amassed 500 artifacts — some copies; many the genuine article — to make the point.

There’s not a horned helmet among them (unless you count an amusing sight gag as you exit), because no such headpiece has ever come out of an archaeological dig. The ubiquitous headgear often associated with Vikings, we’re told in the exhibition, actually came out of the imagination of an 1876 costume designer staging a Wagner opera. And that’s not the only misperception this exhibition is intent on correcting.

The first thing you see in the introductory film as you enter is a farming scene. Raiding was certainly part of what Vikings did, but it is de-emphasized here — perhaps too much so — in favor of displays that highlight social and religious life and try to give women their due.

Countless fictional portrayals might have left the impression that Viking culture was somehow 90 percent male, wild-haired and sword-wielding, but of course it wasn’t, as the jewelry and many other women’s artifacts here attest. The now-rusted keys on display, we’re told, were often carried by women, because with men frequently on the road, they ran the farm.

What’s most interesting about the exhibition, though, is the way it places Vikings within the evolving world. It includes, for instance, a shell found on Gotland, the Swedish island, that came from the waters off distant Cyprus, because one thing Vikings were good at was getting around.

From Scandinavia, the Vikings vikinged far and wide, encountering other emerging cultures. The exhibition is organized by themes rather than chronologically, and the cross-cultural pollination is especially clear in a section on religion. Norse gods and Christian symbolism combine on brooches and pendants, tangible evidence of the kind of slow cultural conquest or merging that is harder to dramatize than a plain old military invasion but fascinating to contemplate.

The ships that made all this roaming possible are well represented. There’s a reproduction of a Viking boat, but just as compelling is a display that speaks to the archaeologist’s frustration: So many materials, including wood, deteriorate in a harsh climate. The display — “We call it the ghost ship,” Ms. Hejll said — consists only of what might be left of a ship at an archaeological dig: the metal hardware that held it together. Dozens of weatherworn rivets and other pieces of ancient hardware dangle from strings, creating the shape of a vessel; only the actual vessel is missing.

The exhibition is geared toward a general audience, with several interactive features likely to appeal to children. One especially illuminating one involves shipbuilding. It presents a graphic display of a landscape, then asks you to select what you’d need to build a Viking ship. Rope? Sure — make that choice and all the horses in the landscape lose their tails, because horsetail hair was used for rope. Wood? Of course — make that selection and all the trees disappear. Deforestation, it turns out, was not just an Industrial Age problem. The Viking commitment to a seafaring life was also a commitment to expend a lot of natural resources.

The Vikings Exhibition runs from Feb. 5 – Sept. 5, 2016, at Discovery Times Square: 226 West 44th Street, Manhattan, NYC.

Author: Neil Genzlinger | Source: The New York Times [March 02, 2016]